o all forms of settled government.

The author of the most detailed report[648] is one Francois Charles de
Berckheim, special commissioner of police at Mayence towards the end of
the Empire, who as a Freemason is naturally not disposed to prejudice
against secret societies. In October 1810 he writes, however, that his
attention has been drawn to the Illuminati by a pamphlet which has just
fallen into his hands, namely the _Essai sur la Secte des Illumines_,
which, like many contemporaries, he attributes originally to Mirabeau.
He then goes on to ask whether the sect still exists, and if so whether
it is indeed "an association of frightful scoundrels who aim, as
Mirabeau assures us, at the overthrow of all law and all morality, at
replacing virtue by crime in every act of human life." Further, he asks
whether both sects of _Illumines_ have now combined in one and what are
their present projects. Conversations with other Freemasons further
increase Berckheim's anxiety on the subject; one of the best informed
observes to him: "I know a great deal, enough at any rate to be
convinced that the _Illumines_ have vowed the overthrow of monarchic
governments and of all authority on the same basis."

Berckheim thereupon sets out to make enquiries, with the result that he
is able to state that the _Illumines_ have initiates all over Europe,
that they have spared no efforts to introduce their principles into the
lodges, and "to spread a doctrine subversive of all settled government
... under the pretext of the regeneration of social morality and the
amelioration of the lot and condition of men by means of laws founded on
principles and sentiments unknown hitherto and contained only in the
heads of the leaders." "Illuminism," he declares, "is becoming a great
and formidable power, and I fear, in my conscience, that kings and
peoples will have much to suffer from it unless foresight and prudence
break its frightful mechanism [_ses affreux restorts_]."

Two years later, on January 16, 1813, Berckheim writes again to the
Minister of Police:

Monseigneur, they write to me from Heidelberg ... that a great
number of initiates into the mysteries of Illuminism are to be
found there.

These gentlemen wear as a sign of recognition a gold ring on the
third finger of the left hand; on the back of this ring there is a
little rose, in the middle of this rose is an almost imperceptible
dint; by pressing this